005: eddie munson

007

EDDIE DIDN'T SIT WITH THE HELLFIRE CLUB DURING LUNCH. Gareth had gotten a bunch of the members sick, so there was practically no one there. Instead, he decided to go to the Spanish room - not because he normally went there during lunch, but because he'd seen the Henderson girl and her short-haired friend head off there.

He peered inside the room only to see Kennedy wiping off blood from her nose, a truly horrified expression on her face. The same was for Robin, except her nose wasn't bleeding. What the fuck? he thought to himself, deciding he probably shouldn't go in. But it was too late - Henderson and Robin had already seen him in the doorway.

"Uh-" he stammered, trying not to make it obvious he was only there because they were. "Sorry. Didn't realize you were in here." He just stood there awkwardly, not sure if he was waiting for them to say something or a cue for him to leave.

"Um-" Robbin stuttered, still confused and quite honestly terrified from what she had just seen. "Um- no, yeah, you're good."

"Yeah," Kennedy agreed, her usually-bubbly, lively voice somewhat quieter, sullen. "Yeah, you're good." She flashed the curly-haired boy a sweet smile, masking what she truly felt. "You can, uh, you can come in, if you'd like." Eddie gazed at her smile, feeling as if he could melt. He barely knew the girl, but he was falling for her like he'd known her forever. She was truly gorgeous.

"Uh, yeah. Sure." He entered the classroom and sat down on one of the beanbags. "You okay?"

"Yeah!" Kennedy answered. Lies. "Yeah, I'm good."

"Alright. Just checkin'." Robin took this as her cue to leave. She felt like her presence would make things awkward. Plus, she really wanted one of them to make a move, and neither of them would if she was there. Although, she was genuinely worried about her friend; this hadn't happened before. And watching her tremble in her sleep, repeating the word no over and over again, her nose starting to bleed, was probably one of the most unsettling things she'd seen, not counting all the Upside-Down drama along with the Russians.

"I'm just gonna go," Robin said awkwardly. "Uh, I'll see you later, Ken?"

"Yeah." Kennedy smiled. "See you." Once Robin had left, Eddie felt the need to ask Kennedy if she really was okay, because she sure didn't seem like it.

"Hey, Henderson," he queried.

"Yeah?"

"Really, are you okay?" The expression on his face made Kennedy realize he knew something was up. Of course, she wasn't about to open up to him. They'd only just started hanging out.

"Yeah, I'm okay. Just a bad dream, I guess."

"Okay ..." Eddie still wasn't convinced. "Look, I know we don't know each other that well, but you can talk to me, you know?" Kennedy smiled again, this time somewhat genuine. She nodded her head. There was an uncomfortable silence between them as Eddie pondered asking her to come over again. "So, uh, would you maybe, you know, want to come over again?"

"Yeah, sure," Kennedy responded eagerly. The smile on her face became more and more authentic. Eddie's presence just seemed to make her happy.

"Okay," Eddie said, now smiling as well. "And my phone's kind of working again, so if you wanna call your mom or anything..."

"That's good," Kennedy laughed. After the bell rang, the two headed their separate ways. They had no classes together, so they wouldn't see each other until she went over to the trailer park. Kennedy spent the rest of the day eager to hang out with Eddie again, trying not to focus too hard on the dream and everything else regarding that whole situation. She had been diagnosed with PTSD, so she just shrugged it off as having something with that.